Airlines sued for refusing big lady

NEW YORK - A New York man whose wheelchair-bound, 425-pound wife died last year after she was denied a spot on three flights home from Europe sued the airlines on Monday for $6 million.

NEW YORK — A New York man whose wheelchair-bound, 425-pound wife died last year after she was denied a spot on three flights home from Europe sued the airlines on Monday for $6 million.

Vilma Soltesz had lost a leg to amputation and suffered from diabetes and kidney disease, news media said.

She was found dead in her vacation home in Hungary in October after aircraft crews in Europe repeatedly failed to accommodate her size despite telling her they could do so, says a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan. It accuses the three airlines of wrongful death and gross negligence.

While the Bronx couple vacationed in Hungary, Vilma Soltesz fell ill and sought treatment at a hospital. She was released and told she could fly home but should see her doctor immediately upon her arrival, according to the suit.

The pair tried to leave Budapest two weeks later on a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight, with Vilma using two seats. But a captain told the couple to disembark after she struggled to maneuver from her wheelchair into her assigned seats, the lawsuit says.

After waiting in a Budapest airport for more than five hours, the couple drove to Prague to catch a Delta flight they were assured could accommodate them. But Delta did not have an adequate wheelchair to get Vilma Soltesz to her seat, the suit says.

On Oct. 22, as several medics and firefighters helped her board a Lufthansa flight, the captain told the couple they had to disembark because “other passengers need to catch a connecting flight and cannot be delayed further,” the suit says.